Recipe - Lavender Shortbread Cookies

First of all, it's National Bake for Family Fun Month and second of all, I needed to use the awesome lavender vanilla bean sugar I got from the Savory Spice Shop. I committed myself to making something this past weekend by telling my co-workers I'd bring sweets to the wedding we were setting up. So what tickled my fancy? Lavender shortbread cookies. They were mother-approved/family-approved and great since there are few ingredients. If you don't have lavender sugar on hand, try using other subtly scented sugars or even making your own mix (lemon zest is a potential!).

Step 1: Ingredients (serving size: varies by shape)

lavender sugar, to dust

1/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup confectioner's/powdered sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup unsalted butter, cold

2 cups all-purpose flour

Step 2: Preparing the dry ingredients
Combine the white sugar, powdered sugar, and all-purpose flour in a bowl. The recipe I had been using asked for 1/4 tsp of kosher salt but I found that it made certain areas too salty in the cookie.

Step 3: Adding wet ingredients
Pour the vanilla extract into the bowl. Cut in the cold butter. I got to use the pastry blender that my brother got me for Christmas while doing this - so much quicker than using two forks! Now the next step just depends on the shape you want your cookies. You can roll the dough and refrigerate until hard so you can slice round cookies (~40) or be lazy like me and just dump all onto a greased baking sheet to cut into bars later (12-16). Your choice!

Step 4: Finishing
Preheat the oven to 325°F. If using logs of dough, roll them into lavender sugar. If making bars, dust on top heavily enough that you can see the flecks of lavender on top. These will make them nice and presentable! OPTIONAL: I found that using the spring wildflower honey I got from the GG Farmers' Market made the cookies immensely tastier. Try adding honey!